Audit Objective
Did Valley Stream Central High School District (District) officials properly monitor, account for and dispose of capital assets?
Audit Period
July 1, 2022 – January 31, 2024
Understanding the Audit Area
Capital assets are those that have a useful life of more than one year following the date of purchase. They can include buildings, machinery, vehicles, furniture, computer equipment and software. Consequently, capital assets often represent a significant investment of school district (district) resources and are subject to risks of loss, misuse and/or obsolescence. Detailed capital asset records help establish accountability.
The District’s capital asset policy indicates that the Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations (Assistant Superintendent) is responsible for maintaining a perpetual inventory of capital assets and the Consolidated Applications Coordinator (Coordinator) is responsible for adhering asset tags to assets after receiving documentation from the Purchasing Department that the asset has been received. The Assistant Superintendent delegated his responsibility to the Business Manager.
The net book value of the District’s 1,376 capital assets for fiscal year 2023-24 was $3.2 million.
Audit Summary
District officials did not properly monitor, account for and dispose of capital assets. While the Board of Education (Board) adopted some policies for monitoring and disposing of capital assets, officials did not ensure the procedures were followed, which led to missing and inaccurate information in the District’s inventory system, assets that could not be located and assets not being properly disposed of. For example:
- 382 capital assets totaling $178,123 were not entered into the District’s inventory system between July 1, 2022 and January 31, 2024.
- 81 capital assets totaling $455,096 had key information missing in the inventory report, including missing or incorrect model numbers, serial numbers and manufacturer information.
- 19 assets totaling $52,992 had a missing or incorrect asset tag number. Additionally, 18 assets totaling $46,305 could not be located, including freezers, office furniture and musical equipment.
- Officials could not provide support indicating that 29 assets, which were all identified as disposed of in the District’s inventory record and had replacement costs totaling $85,400, were approved for disposal by the Board. Furthermore, these assets could not be traced with certainty to sale and destruction records due to a variety of missing and conflicting identifying information. Finally, one of the 29 assets was found to still be in the District’s possession.
When capital assets are not properly inventoried, tagged or disposed of, there is an increased risk that the assets could be stolen or misused without the District’s knowledge.
The report includes seven recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the District’s controls for the monitoring, accounting and disposal of capital assets. District officials agreed with our recommendations and indicated they have initiated or plan to initiate corrective action. Appendix C includes our comments on issues raised in the District’s response letter.
We conducted this audit pursuant to Article V, Section 1 of the State Constitution and the State Comptroller’s authority as set forth in Article 3 of the New York State General Municipal Law. Our methodology and standards are included in Appendix D.
The Board has the responsibility to initiate corrective action. A written corrective action plan (CAP) that addresses the findings and recommendations in this report must be prepared and provided to our office within 90 days, pursuant to Section 35 of the New York State General Municipal Law, Section 2116-a (3)(c) of the New York State Education Law and Section 170.12 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education. To the extent practicable, implementation of the CAP must begin by the end of the next fiscal year. For more information on preparing and filing your CAP, please refer to our brochure, Responding to an OSC Audit Report, which you received with the draft audit report. The CAP should be posted on the District’s website for public review.